The Beginning of an Era
by DesertOrchid7485
Summary: When Alaric comes to class, hurt, Elena is concerned. But who is it that actually offers the comfort our favorite history teacher needs


**Title: **The Beginning of an Era

**Summary: **When Alaric comes to class, hurt, Elena is concerned. But who is it that actually offers the comfort our favorite history teacher needs?

**Rating: **PG-13

**Pairing: **Mentions Stefan/Elena but the main one I wanna keep a surprise. The most I'll say is, it is slash :D

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything of the Vampire Diaries or its characters; those belong to L. . If I did, Alaric would _never _have been killed off and he would have had a much bigger role.

**Author's Notes: **This is my first VD fanfic so I hope you all like it. I'm a big Alaric fan and I think we need to have more out there so here's another one to up the count. Enjoy!

* * *

Elena sat in history class, making goo-goo eyes at Stefan while she waited for Ric to arrive. She was a little worried that the_ entire_ class had beaten him there since Ric usually walked in with them and not after them.

As Stefan turned his attention to his phone, which had just gone off with a text message, Elena turned her attention to the clock that hung over the doorway. The same old, familiar, feeling of worry settled into her chest when she realized that Ric was now over twenty minutes late. Something was wrong.

Behind her, Elena heard the small click of Stefan locking his iPhone and she turned back to look at him quizzically. Instead of finding him looking at her, waiting for her curiosity to get the better of her, he was staring at the door to the classroom with a look of concentration on his face. After unsuccessfully trying to get his attention, she too turned her attention back to the door.

When Ric finally came in, she tried not to look too relieved since it wouldn't be appropriate for a student to be that worried about her teacher. As it turned out, however, she needn't have worried. Her relief was short lived the more she watched her teacher and friend make his way to his desk.

Instead of rushing in, like Elena had expected him to do, Alaric walked as though he were simply taking a stroll. His movements were slow, giving the appearance of calm that he was obviously trying to emanate.

"Good morning," he greeted with a smile as he placed his brief case on his small desk and opened the flap. "I apologize for being late. My car isn't what it used to be."

Okay, _that _was a lie. Elena had been in Ric's car; it was nicer than hers.

He looked back up at the class, measuring to see if his lame lie had been accepted and it was then that she noticed the bandage that blended almost perfectly with his skin, covering the left side of his neck.

Elena snuck a quick glance at Stefan but only found a blank wall of expression and so turned her attention back to her teacher.

Ric pulled a huge stack of papers from his bag and then secured his grip on them by holding onto them with both hands as he began passing them out. Elena's brows furrowed in further worry when she noticed a faint grimace cross Ric's face as he bent over to place the papers on the unhelpful students' desks.

"Today, we're having a pop quiz so I hope you've been paying attention."

The class groaned as one collective unit, allowing Elena, Bonnie and Stefan to hide their scoffs. _They _certainly hadn't been paying attention the past few weeks and Ric knew it. What with Isobel coming back to Mystic Falls, Jenna finding out about _everything, _then Klaus hijacking Alaric's body and then sacrificing Jenna and Elena on an alter, Elena hadn't had much time for studying.

As Elena received her quiz and passed the rest on, her phone vibrated. Placing it in her lap she stealthily read the message.

**From: Bonnie**

**Is Alaric ok? **

Elena turned a bit to look over her shoulder at her friend and merely shrugged since she had no clue. They both turned their attentions back to the person in question before once again staring at each other. Bonnie sighed and then began typing away on her phone.

**Hangover? **

Elena immediately shook her head no. She'd seen Ric hungover before and this was not it.

_No, _Elena typed. _Bandage…_

At this Bonnie's brows furrowed and she sighed once again. Elena took that for the sign that it was – she had no clue what Elena was trying to say. When the witch looked back at her, Elena briefly touched the left side of her neck and then looked back at Ric. Her phone vibrated seconds later.

**Vampires? **

Elena half shrugged, half shook her head no and half shook her head yes because she honestly didn't know. She assumed it was a vampire but whether it had been a hunt or a specified attack she wasn't sure. Again she looked over at Stefan, and while this time he was looking at both her and Bonnie, his expression was still carefully guarded which meant that he knew something, he just wasn't willing to say what.

_Stefan knows something, _she replied, typing quickly. _I just don't know what. _

Bonnie scoffed then rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her quiz. Elena quickly did the same thing, and froze. She had _no _clue about the answers to any of these questions. After noticing that she had maybe ten more minutes of class, Elena jotted down whatever answers that came to mind, barely finishing before the bell.

She placed her test on Ric's desk, noticing the way he was rigidly sitting, but barely had time to open her mouth before Stefan was gingerly nudging her out of the door.

"You know something," she automatically accused once they were in the hall. "What is it? What happened to Alaric?"

Stefan smirked at her for a second and bowed his head. When he looked back up at her, he was a bit more serious.

"All I know is what Damon told me. He and Alaric went searching for a nest last night. Apparently things got a little hairy."

"I thought the whole point of Damon going along with Alaric was to keep things like this from happening," Elena growled, not happy with how things had turned out but unable to lay proper blame to anyone but the vampires that had attacked them.

Stefan smiled and wrapped an arm around Elena's shoulders. "Come on," he said, pushing her down the hall, "time for economics."

* * *

Several hours later, Elena walked back into history class. She'd been trying to stay awake through calculus when the phone rang and Mr. Clark had told her that she was to go see "Mr. Saltzman". It was weird hearing Ric being called Mr. Saltzman but she had been too confused to do more than nod her head, gather her things and leave.

"What's up?" she asked as she entered, arms across her chest. She did her best to hide her concern at seeing him sitting upright and with only one of his legs stretched out in front of him. Alaric had _the worst _posture when sitting at a desk and while he did like to stretch his long legs from time to time, he mostly preferred to keep them tucked under his chair with his ankles crossed. She'd only ever seen him do one and that had been when a vampire had almost dislocated his knee the night before.

"Ah, Elena, come on in," he greeted, waving a hand to the desk in front of his. "I thought I'd give you a chance to retake the quiz."

Elena looked around the room, both relieved and uneasy to find it empty sans the two of them. "No one else got the invitation?" she asked, more than a little worried about being shown favoritism because of their friendship outside the classroom.

"No one else needed it," he answered somberly. "Not even Bonnie."

Wow, that was saying something. If it was possible, Bonnie was even worse in this subject than Elena was. This sucked.

He leaned forward, placing his arms on the desk and folding his hands while he waited for her answer. A wince flitted across his features and Elena found it too hard to refrain from asking, "Are you okay?"

Over the last year she'd come to think of Alaric as family. At first, him dating Jenna had been weird and semi-uncomfortable but, eventually, Elena got used to him being around, even going so far as to expect him to be there even if Jenna was busy. Seeing the look of want and pain on his face whenever he talked of or saw Jenna during their break-up had broken Elena's heart – a reaction she hadn't anticipated having when it came to her history teacher.

She didn't think she could ever think of Ric as a father figure. But she could definitely see him as a big brother. Sure, he was a big brother that often felt just as lost and alone as she did but that didn't matter to her. What mattered was that she knew he would do everything in his power to be there for her when she needed him, and even sometimes when she didn't know that she did; and she would be there for him, even when he didn't want her to be because that's what family was. And Alaric, was family, whether he liked it or not.

Now with Jenna dead, Klaus killed bye Elijah, and Damon almost dying from a werewolf bite, Elena and Alaric had grown even closer and it hurt her to see him hurting – physically or otherwise.

He smiled at her show of concern and it was then that she noticed the faint bruise on his cheek. Why hadn't she noticed that earlier? Had her life become so wacky that she only noticed vampire bites and not bruises?

"I'm fine," he assured. "Things just got a little rough last night, that's all."

"I guess that explains the bandage," Elena said dryly, "but what about the rest of you?"

"The rest of me?" he asked with a half laugh, choosing to fake ignorance.

"Yes, the rest of you," Elena returned, refusing to back down. "You might be trying to pretend that you're fine but it's obvious that you're not. So why don't you quit with the act and just tell me?"

For a minute no one spoke. Elena was staring expectantly at Alaric, waiting for him to talk and he was staring at her, thinking God only knows what.

At long last, Ric sighed. "Just, let me get through the school day, okay?"

Elena thought about saying no, but then she looked at the clock and realized they only had thirty minutes left. Figuring that another half hour wouldn't kill him, she gave a clenched-jaw nod, showing she wasn't going to drop the subject entirely.

He handed her a blank quiz and looked at the clock. "You can have til the bell rings to finish. This time, concentrate on the test and not sending texts to Bonnie."

"Sorry," she said, not actually sorry at all. "I tend to have trouble concentrating when one of my friends is hurt and I don't know why."

She grabbed the test and started filling it out in earnest this time. Surprisingly, she found it easier than she had this morning, but she still didn't know most of it. Still, it _was _easier to make a relatively educated guess and so that's what she did. She finished just as the bell rang.

"Now," she said, handing her quiz back alost forcefully and sitting back down, "tell me."

* * *

Alaric sighed and leaned back in his chair. His lower back gave a painful twinge and he did his best to hide his discomfort. Pain wasn't a new feeling to him and neither was hiding it. The trouble often came when you got close to people and they could tell when you were faking despite how practiced you were at hiding the pain.

"We were just supposed to investigate a nest," he began, knowing that he'd never get Elena off his back unless he told her. "At leas, that's what Damon had said so I brought everything I could since it was Damon that had said it."

They both shared a small chuckle which pulled a wince to his face as his back muscles were stretched.

"We entered quietly," he continued after seeing Elena's look of concern. "But quiet can only give ou so much leverage before they start to notice their lessening ranks. A few of them attacked Damon and me. We held our own for a while but eventually they learned to attack us separately and they overwhelmed Damon while a few of them came at me."

He paused to take a breath and to calm the emotions that surged through him at the memory of the night before. The last thing he wanted was to show Elena how he felt about a certain vampire and how it felt seeing him beaten to a pulp while he did nothing to help. He looked out the door to make sure that no one was listening in and then he continued, "I managed to kill one but the other two held me still."

He looked down to hide another grimace as his knee sent a painful throb through his leg. "Apparently one of the vampires I'd killed when we'd entered was the girlfriend of one of the ones that held me and so he wanted revenge. While five surrounded Damon, one held my arms behind my back."

Elena scoffed at the move and he had to agree with her. It was a pretty high school, maybe even grade school move. Usually he would have made fun of the guy for using the stance – in fact he had but he wasn't going to tell Elena that – but when it came to a vampire holding your arms, you were essentially helpless to get out of the hold.

A squeal of laughter from a group of girls outside the door rent through the air. It distracted the pair of them while they waited for the crowd to leave.

Once the group left, Alaric resumed, "He kicked my knee out so that I couldn't fight back and then threw a couple punches before I managed to get loose." He paused to breathe and then added, "Of course, all I succeeded in doing was getting thrown into a hall table and being knocked unconscious which is where my part of the story ends."

Across from him, Elena remained quiet. Her compassionate brown eyes shone with what appeared to be pity but Alaric knew better than to think that's what it was. Elena may empathize or sympathize with those that had been hurt but she never pitied them. She _never _pitied Alaric and Alaric returned the favor by never pitying her. No, what she was most likely feeling was concern.

"But, you're okay?" she asked, worried.

"I'm okay enough," he answered, hoping it would be enough. It obviously wasn't as Elena crossed her arms, leaned back in the desk and stared at him. Alaric had come to recognize that as her stubbornness coming out to play so he sighed and added, "My back's a little sore, I've a minor headache, and as long as I don't stand or walk too much my knee's okay enough."

It was a basic summary but it was all Elena needed to know since she'd never see the bruises or the true damage that had been caused… He hoped.

* * *

Rain pounded on the car windshield as she drove, making Elena drive slower than she normally would. She was thankful for the weather, actually, because it gave her time to process what Alaric had told her. Something in the way he'd relayed the parts with Damon struck a specific and particular chord to her and she couldn't quite figure out why. It had almost sounded like remorse had crept into his voice during those times, like he'd felt bad because the vampire had taken the brunt of the attack. She was sure that Ric hadn't meant to let those feelings seep through and so she hadn't mentioned it but now it kept nudging at her mind, making her wonder.

She pulled into the driveway and parked. After a few seconds, she checked to see if Ric had pulled up yet or if he was still trailing her and sighed in annoyance when she didn't see his car.

Though her concern had been calmed by Alaric's honesty, it hadn't gone away entirely. She'd indiscriminately watched Ric as he left the school – his leaving with the kids another sign of how poorly he felt since he normally left long after everyone had gone – and she hadn't been happy with what she'd seen. His upright posture from before was just as stiff but it was now a bit hunched and while he'd been walking mostly fine this morning, he had developed a definite limp which drew a grimace to his face every time he took a step on his right leg.

By the time Elena had made it to the front door, Ric's car pulled up to the curb. She chuckled a little at that. He never parked in the driveway. Apparently the driveway was reserved for family members or important people only and he never counted himself as either. Elena had given up long ago of trying to convince him that he was indeed family to her because he never listened.

She opened the door but remained on the porch to wait for Ric to join her. She offered him a smile as he climbed the stairs, wincing with each stair. The poor man looked exhausted and like he could use a couple nights of rest so he could heal. But given how their lives usually went, she didn't think he'd get that and so she vowed to do what she could for him tonight.

"Uh, no," she said when she saw Ric start heading up the stairs. As much as she believed he needed to be in bed, she wasn't sure his knee could handle the climb. It appeared that his body agreed with her as his leg crumpled beneath him on the next step.

Ric gave a small cry of pain that pierced Elena's heart with a razor sharp arrow and then tried to laugh it off.

"I guess I'm not going up there," he chuckled wheezily. His teeth clenched and a grimace creased his face, belying the joke he'd tried to make.

"Come on," she said, holding out her hand. When he grabbed it – albeit reluctantly – she pulled and the slipped under his injured side. "Let's get you to the couch."

His weight against her was heavy but his limp was even heavier. She hated that he was causing himself more pain just so he wouldn't put more weight on her; she may appear small and frail but Elena was stronger than she looked. Thankfully the couch wasn't far and soon he was off his feet and stretched out.

"So, what should we do for dinner?" Elena asked as she walked into the kitchen to grab an ice pack. After a bit of thought she grabbed a second one; she swore that she felt a sizeable knot in his lower back when she'd helped him to the couch and figured he could use some ices for that as well.

"You don't have to hang out, Elena," Ric replied, sounding tired. "Don't you have plans to meet up with Stefan later?"

"You tryin to get rid of me Ric?" she teased, handing him the ice.

He took it with a self-conscious smile of thanks. As she had guessed he placed one over his knee and the other against the pillow so that as he leaned against it, the ice rested against his back. His eyes closed in a moment of relief and then he chuckled. "All I'm saying is, you don't have to stay and take care of me if you have plans. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, and I believe that," she scoffed, settling into an armchair adjacent to the couch. She'd just pulled her legs onto the chair when there was a knock at the door. Heaving a sigh, Elena got up and answered it.

"Can Ric come out and play?"

Damon Salvatore in full smirk mode stood on the porch. His raven black hair was plastered to his face and his pale blue eyes contrasted starkly with it, providing a beacon for her to stare at. The black tee that he tended to favor made him look unusually pasty. It actually almost looked like he was sick and simply refusing to show it.

"Ugh, what do you want?" Elena groaned, annoyed at the man in front of her for no reason.

Damon put on a hurt expression. "Is that any way to greet a concerned friend?"

"Please," she scoffed, "if you're concerned then I'm Bugs Bunny."

Damon's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "It's funny, you don't look like a furry rabbit." He pushed his way passed her and walked into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" Alaric asked. Surprise was reflected in his raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and slightly ajar mouth but the burning in his cheeks signaled embarrassment as well. He sat up a little straighter, as though not wanting to appear injured or weak, but stopped with a cringe of a pain when his injuries bothered him.

Since Damon had pushed passed her, Elena had started moving from the doorway back to the arm chair and so she was in time to see Damon's brows furrow. She'd seen this look directed at her enough times to know that it was the vampire's way of showing concern and worry and it made her smile – though she tried to hide it. Of course he noticed it, however, and so quickly hid the expression, pretending as though it had never happened.

The air sparkled with some indefinable energy. It gave her the impression that these two wanted to be alone so she cleared her throat. "I think I'm going to take a shower," she said. Pointing at the window where rain was still pouring down, she added, "I'm still a little cold."

"Ooh, do you need any help?" Damon offered, wagging his eyebrow suggestively.

Elena rolled her eyes and didn't answer. She looked down at Ric and asked, "Do you need anything before I go?"

"No, I'm fine," he predictably answered. His cheeks were still flush with a light pink and it was hard for Elena not to giggle at it.

"Yeah, don't worry about him," Damon added, coming to stand behind Ric. He clapped a heavy hand on the injured man's shoulder, making him wince. "I'll take _good _care of him."

The blush on Ric's cheeks got an even deeper red and Elena fought not to laugh at him. Apparently Ric didn't mind the idea of Damon taking care of him.

Elena rolled her eyes at Damon and then sighed, pretending to be annoyed when inside she was really just giggling like a school girl. She left the room without another word and went upstairs. With any luck Damon would be gone by the time she was done with her shower. But then again, maybe if Ric had any say, the vampire wouldn't leave again.

* * *

Damon watched Elena leave with anxious eyes. While he doubted that Ric wanted to be alone with him, that didn't mean that _he _didn't want to be alone with Ric. He wanted to make sure that Ric was alright and he _certainly _couldn't do that when other people were around, so he hoped that Elena would stay hidden for a long while.

Last night had been rough on both of them but while Damon heals, and quickly, Ric doesn't… at least not as efficiently as Damon. Though Ric had hid his pain well enough last night while he was hauling both of their asses back to the car and driving them home, Damon hadn't been _so _out of it that he hadn't noticed it at all. At first Damon had thought that Ric's injuries were superficial but after Stefan's text this morning about the events of last night, Damon had gotten curious and so he'd dropped by the school for a few hours just to watch. It didn't take long for him to see that Ric was hurt and more seriously than a simple bite on the neck. His posture slowly got more pained over time and while Damon was loathed to admit it – even to himself – it bothered him to see it.

So, he'd come to check up on the man. He hated that he was letting his concern override his vampire personality but it was already done and so there was no point in dwelling on it.

When he'd walked in and Ric's face had coloured in surprise, it had made Damon smile and feel like he was in the beginning stages of courting someone. But then the cute surprise look had faded and pain had taken over. It had made his heart send a pulse of pain through his chest which he knew that Elena had caught. When he'd seen her smile he'd chosen to ignore it and swiftly evened out his expression to its normal nonchalance.

"So," Ric said, breaking the silence with his deep, gravelly voice that made Damon want to purr. "Why are you here?"

"Like I said, I came to see how you are," Damon answered, pretending to be offended that his motives were being questioned.

"You never said that," Ric countered, looking tired and pained.

"Didn't I?" Damon asked, remembering that he'd only ever said that in his head but pretending otherwise. "My mind must be going. You know how it is, living for so long. The mind's the first to go and then the good looks."

"Actually, I can't say that I've lived one hundred and fifty years," Ric teased.

"Do you want to?" Damon offered, licking his lips in anticipation for being allowed to taste Ric's blood.

Ric, of course, glared at him, making him chuckle and get comfortable in the chair that Elena had been prepared to occupy earlier. He leaned forward on his knees and stared earnestly at his friend, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Ric answered with what sounded like an annoyed sigh. Apparently he was getting tired of being asked that question only to have no one actually listen to his answer. As far as Damon was concerned it was his own fault for lying to everyone and so he didn't actually care about Ric's annoyance levels.

"Yes, that _would _explain why Elena has gone into protective-mama-bear mode," Damon quipped, knowing for a fact that Ric wasn't fine.

"Well you know Elena, she's always been a bit overprotective," Ric dismissed, not taking Damon's bait.

Damon sat in the chair, studying that man in front of him. It always amazed him how stubborn the human could be when he was injured. It was like he refused to look weak. Except that it seemed that Elena could get him to admit that he was human so, maybe it was just Damon that he didn't want to be weak in front of?

"Well, if that's the case why don't you help me take out the vamps from last night?" He waited while he watched Ric frown down at his lap and fiddle with his fingers before he smiled knowingly. "That's what I thought," he said, leaning back in the armchair.

Silence stretched through the house as both men waited for the other to strike up a conversation. It was Damon who finally relented. He'd never been one to be comfortable with static-filled silence and this one was filled with a lot of things neither man was willing to say.

"Why are you sitting on the couch?" Damon asked, surprising even himself with the question. What did he care if Alaric was on the couch or in bed or even in his car for that matter?

Alaric stared at him evenly, trying to appear nonchalant. "It was easier than trying to get upstairs."

In other words, he _couldn't _get upstairs and so Elena had mother-henned him to the couch.

"Well, that can't be comfortable on your back." Again, why did he care?! Out loud even!

Alaric must have been thinking the same thing as he tilted his head to the side and stared at him. Confusion shone in his blue eyes which narrowed in suspicion. Damon didn't blame him for being suspicious; Damon had never been one to openly show his concern for another human being and that included Elena. But there was something about Ric that made him want to take care of the man. It was like he _needed _someone to watch over and take care of him which was a ridiculous notion because if anyone needed watching over, it wasn't Ric.

"It's fine," Ric answered, still staring at Damon as though he'd lost his mind. His voice faltered a little as he spoke but why, Damon couldn't discern. Maybe it was just the lie he was telling, but just maybe it was because of some unknown emotion he was feeling.

Deciding to test that theory, Damon gave a smirk which turned into a full on smile when he noticed apprehension in Ric's eyes. Moving at lighting quick speed, he scooped the human into his arms, making sure to be as careful as possible.

"Damon, what the hell?!" Ric spluttered. Despite his indignation, however, his arms wrapped themselves around Damon's neck, though that could be explained by the human impulse to keep his balance.

Damon shifted Ric when he saw the human grimace and then noticed that his arm was pressing against a knot in Ric's lower back. He frowned at the knot as well as the swelling in the man's knee.

"Time to get you upstairs," he said, smiling and heading towards the door.

"Damon, put me down, I can get there myself."

"Obviously you can't otherwise you would be there already and not dealing with me," Damon reasoned.

"Damon, what are you doing?!" Elena screeched at the top of the landing. Her mouth hung wide open as she stared at him in shock and anger.

"Oh come on Elena, we both know that Ric would be more comfortable if he was in bed. I'm simply helping him to get there."

It sounded reasonable enough; so what if he didn't mention that the feeling of Ric in his arms made his skin tingle and his heart race. No one needed to know that…including Alaric.

Pushing passed Elena, Damon headed for Ric's bedroom and gently placed the man in his bed. He was sure that Elena was in the doorway, watching his every move and to make sure that he wasn't going to cause more harm to Alaric, but he ignored her as he helped Ric settle into a more comfortable position.

Without a word, Damon went into the bathroom medicine cabinet and grabbed the tube of Bengay that he knew Ric kept around. He went back into the room, once again ignoring Elena completely as he sat on the empty side of the bed and barked, "Take your shirt off and turn over."

Alaric glared at him, defiantly refusing to do as he said without some sort of explanation. Okay, so he apparently _hadn't _appreciated the trip up the stairs, but come on – at least he was in bed where he was comfortable, right?

With a sigh of resignation, Damon leaned in a little closer to Ric, so that only Ric could hear him, and said, "I'm not going to hurt you." He hesitated for a second and then added, "I just want to help."

Without taking his eyes off Damon, Alaric addressed Elena, "Elena, could you give us a minute?"

Behind him, Damon heard Elena's heart stop a beat and then speed up as emotions raged through her. Still, she cared about and trusted Alaric and so she sighed and said, "Fine. Call me if you need anything."

"He'll be fine. Now shoo," Damon said, making a shooing motion with his hand.

Once she was gone, Alaric said one word. "Why?"

Ah yes, the one question that Damon didn't want to answer. His mind raced as he tried to think of way to answer that honestly enough to make Ric relax but still make it a big enough lie so as to not expose his true feelings.

"Maybe I just want my hunting buddy back," Damon answered since it wasn't that far of a stretch. Gently, he helped Ric out of his shirt, thankful that Ric couldn't hear how Damon's heart sped at the sight of his naked torso.

"No, there's more to it than that," Ric argued, gingerly shifting so that he was lying on his stomach.

The bruise on his back was livid and angry looking and it made Damon wince just to see. Tendrils of red, blue and green spread around Ric's lower back like they had been made with a paintbrush rather than a hall table.

Knowing that the position had to be painful on Ric's knee, Damon swiftly but gently applied the cream, rubbing circles into the parts of skin that weren't bruised. He felt Ric's muscles loosen under his hands and he had to refrain from continuing since he knew that Ric wasn't comfortable with this exchange as it was.

With a touch as soft as baby's skin but as firm as iron, he helped Ric to roll back over, making sure the man was flat on the mattress. He placed Pillows beneath Ric's legs to help stretch his lower back and elevate the injured knee in one.

"You never answered my question," Ric pointed out, seeming to be in a daze.

"Sure I did."

Ric rolled his eyes. "Fine, you didn't answer it honestly then. Why are you doing this? We both know you only care about and love Elena so why the sincere gentleness with me?"

Ric's heart was pounding as he spoke, in spite of his calm and determined demeanor. It pounded through Damon's head like a drum set, marking time for a dance that was about to begin.

Damon sighed. God he didn't want to do this, but Ric needed honesty; at least as much as Damon could give him.

"There was a time when it was Elena," he began, grinding his teeth with every word he spoke. "But, she has Stefan and…" He paused, his self preservation kicking in and refusing to let him continue.

"And?" Alaric pressed, obviously waiting for the rest.

"Nothing, never mind," Damon dismissed, getting off the bed, ready to bolt.

A hand gripped his wrist with surprising strength, stopping him from going further. Alaric hissed and the hand tightened as he channeled his pain to his grip.

"Tell me," he demanded, his voice hard and his eyes even harder.

Cursing his inability to deny the man before him, Damon wrenched his arm out of Alaric's grasp. Placing his hands on his hips, Damon stared down at the man and ground out, "And I found someone else."

Alaric opened his mouth as though to ask who that other someone was but he quickly shut it. Something in Damon's expression must have told him more than the vampire had wanted because he once again cocked his head to the side and stared open-mouthed at him, disbelieving what his mind translated.

"Finally."

Now it was Damon's turn for his mouth to hang agape. His eyes narrowed, trying to determine what Ric was thinking or feeling because so help him, if Ric was toying with him, the human would pay for it, Damon's own feelings be damned.

When Ric started to sit up, Damon sat down on the bed and placed his hand on the man's chest, keeping him from getting too far. He felt as though he wasn't in control of his own body as he leaned forward and placed a hesitant kiss on Ric's soft lips. It didn't last too long but it was long enough for Ric to begin kissing back.

"And on that note, I gotta go." Damon stood up and crossed over to the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?"

"What? I have some vampires to kill and you, well you need some rest."

"So you just kiss me and that's it?"

Damon smiled, his eyes smoldering with want. "Don't worry, I'll be back for more."

Ric swallowed heavily, his heart rate increasing as a flush burned into his cheeks. It looked like he wanted to say something, ask if Damon wanted more, but he swallowed it and clenched his jaw. "Fine, but be careful."

In lightning speed, Damon was at Ric's side and leant down for another kiss. "Don't worry," he said when he'd pulled back. "I'll come back to you. Always."

"You'd better," Ric threatened, looking totally serious. His brows furrowed and he asked, "What are we gonna tell everyone else?"

"Nothing. It's not their business." He went back to the doorway and started heading down the stairs. "Take care Ric!"

* * *

Ric laid in bed, listening to the sounds of Damon leaving the house and pulling away. His brain couldn't comprehend what had just happened but his heart was leaping miles into the air shouting, "Yay!" Of course he was worried about what not only Elena, but most importantly Stefan would think but for now, he was happy keeping the secret. As long as it meant that Damon was his, he would be fine.

_**~fin~**_


End file.
